Wyoming

History: Wild Wyoming Winds

Published

3 months ago

December 28, 2025

On December 17 and 18, the wind gusts in some areas of Wyoming were recorded blowing over 100 miles per hour. In Sheridan County, they did not get that strong, but they were in 60 mile per hour range.

Wyoming is no stranger to wind, in fact, according to several internet sites, the state with the most wind is Alaska, followed closely by Wyoming.

In this history column we will look at some winter winds, which caused damage and in one case, even a death.

This in The Sheridan Post, December 31, 1912 – Gale Breaks All Records; Reaches Maximum Of 60 Miles Per Hour; Buildings Burned Barns Destroyed — Sheridan Escapes by Merest Good Fortune — Rocks Buildings, Whirls Dust — Breaking all weather bureau records for wind velocity, a 60-mile gale early yesterday morning kept city and county on the qui vive for four hours and wreaked havoc throughout the Sheridan country. Among the losses reported as a result of the gale are the following:

Wallop ranch, Big Horn, ice house, laundry and hay stacks destroyed by fire. Estimated loss, $3,000.

William Moncreiffe ranch. Big Horn—Four hay stacks burned, loss several hundred dollars.

Burgess lumber sheds at Big Horn blown down; other small buildings blown down or un-roofed. Fences blown over.

Tom Masters ranch, Tongue River, barn wrecked by wind; frame structure, total loss.

Pass creek ranchers are reported to have suffered heavily, many out buildings and haystacks being blown over. A barn on the E.N. Secore ranch, Big Goose, in reported to have been wrecked by the wind.

At the Wallop ranch the fact that the wind was from the south was all that saved the residence from destruction. The big barn was saved only through the heroic work of neighbors. The entire countryside turned out to assist in subduing the flames. In one instance, burning brands were carried a distance of a mile across the fields to the William Moncreiffe ranch, setting fire to hay stacks. The fire is supposed to have originated in the Wallop laundry, although flames were observed in the laundry building and a nearby haystack almost simultaneously. A corner of the barn caught fire and the big building would have gone with other structures but for the promptness with which neighbors hastened to the rescue.

The wind swept down Little Goose Canyon and out across the flats with terrific velocity. Malcolm Moncreiffe, who was in the city yesterday, declares that while at its maximum the gale must have blown at fully 75 miles an hour.

Weather Observer Prise is authority for the statement that the maximum reached in Sheridan was 60 miles an hour, and that only for two or three-minute periods. The greatest sustained velocity, for a five minute or longer period, was recorded at 2:45, when the wind attained a maximum of 56 miles per hour for four and a half hours, from then until after 6 o’clock, the gale averaged from 46 to 56 miles per hour, according to weather bureau records. At 6 o’clock it was blowing 50 miles and while calming down after daylight continued all day with more or less severity. While the storm was at its height clouds of dust filled the air, entering upon windows and doors and leaving a trail of work and profanity in its wake.

Residents of the city immediately expected to hear the fire alarm, but fortunately for residence and business district not a fire was reported. Mayor Kutcher was one of those who lay awake waiting for the gong.

Many chimneys belched red, and the fact that the conflagration did not ensue is due to the merest luck. A small blaze on Fifth street was caught before it spread.

Shortly after 2 o’clock all the lights in the city went out and remained off for more that an hour. Trouble at the Tongue River plant is given as the cause. According to the wind gauge at the weather bureau the gale blew from the west and northwest until daylight when it veered around to the northwest, it reached its maximum while blowing directly from the west. Building were rocked on their foundations and in some cases were vacated by their occupants for fear of collapse. A 64-mile an hour gale was recorded in May of 1919. In January and November of 1811, tbe wind attained a velocity of 50 miles an hour. in December 1907, a 60 miles per hour wind blew in.

As we saw in the above story, during times of high winds, power is often disrupted. In the recent December windstorm, many residents in the Sheridan, Johnson and Campbell County areas were without power for a time. Anything with high lines, such electricity can be affected by the winds.

This from the Laramie Daily Boomerang, Monday, March 22,1920 – High Winds Cause Delay In Telegraph Service – Crossed wires between here and Cheyenne resulted in some inconvenience today and the telephone and telegraph service of both cities have suffered from delay. Crews of men have been working along the line repairing the damage and by late in the afternoon the service was again working on schedule. High winds caused considerable trouble along the line though no great damage to property has been reported.

Although today, most land line telephone lines are underground, and unless a tower blows down cell phone is little affected, but loss of power can create problems with the home internet and wi-fi, as the modems are powered by electricity.

This past year, there have been many instances of semi trucks being blown over the winds. There are numerous postings on Wyoming Department of Transportation website about the interstates being closed for high profile vehicles under 20000 pounds due to the blow over risk. Even train cars can be at risk, and create a risk.

This from The Sheridan Daily Enterprise, January 9, 1911 –Cheyenne, Wyo., Jan. 9. — Much damage and many accidents have resulted today from one of the worst windstorms that has ever blown over the city. George Garner, foreman of the water service of the Colorado and Southern Railroad, was struck by a boxcar which had blown loose from its moorings and had his arm crushed to a pulp. Harry Long, a Union Pacific switch man, was thrown from the top of a boxcar when the roof was blown off, and his leg fractured.

Judge Clark was literally blown over on the pavement and sustained a broken nose. A number of wagons were blown over in the streets and two drivers were injured. No less than a dozen residences have been removed from their foundations and several glasses blown in F. J. Kihm, manager of a restaurant, lost a considerable sum of money in bills which were whisked from a bank book he was carrying on the way to make a deposit. Telephone wires are down and the service badly damaged.

When most people, especially rural folks, had fireplaces and wood and coal stoves, brick chimneys were often vulnerable in a windstorm.

The Laramie Republican, January 10, 1916 – Chimney Blown Over in a Windstorm – O. Herrlck of Mandel, the ranch man and chairman of the board of county commissioners, arrived from the ranch yesterday afternoon and is spending a few days with his family here. A severe wind storm raged in the Little Laramle valley Saturday, a chimney at the Herrick home having been blown over. There wasn’t a fire in the fireplace at the time and no further damage was done to the building. Mr. Herrlck knew of no other damage in that neighborhood from the wind.

Even deaths can be attributed to the winds.

The Casper Daily Tribune, February 17, 1921 – Rancher Killed When Hay Wagon is Blown Over in Heavy gale.

Laramie, Wyoming – Feb. 11 – Charles Weisbach, a ranch worker, was instantly killed Wednesday when a load of hay which he was bringing to town was overturned by high wind on Twelve-mile hill, west of Laramie. He was crusted beneath the overturned hay rack and load.

For those folks who work outside, windchill can be dangerous as well, so it pays to bundle up with working in the winter winds.

So, for those of us living in Wyoming, wind is a part of life. We just hope that it doesn’t last for to long.

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Wyoming

How Wyoming Game Wardens Cracked The Cody Serial Poaching Case

Published

7 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

How Wyoming Game Wardens Cracked The Cody Serial Poaching Case

For four straight nights, Game Warden Spencer Carstens and a fellow officer sat in an unmarked vehicle at a Cody city park, windows down, staring into the blackness from dusk until 3 a.m.

Nothing happened.

The poaching caper that would become known internally as the “Cody Park Case” had been building since late August 2024, when residents began finding mule deer carcasses in their front yards and floating in a pond at the Park County Complex. The deer body count reached nine.

According to Wyoming Game and Fish, all nine were killed “right in the middle of town where deer like to hang out” by the library, not far from Canal Park and Glendale Park

All shot with a compound bow, all left to rot.

By the time wardens launched their stakeout, and the only lead was grainy security camera footage of a silver car cruising the neighborhood.

The full story of how the case came together is now the subject of an episode of the Wyoming Wildlife Podcast, hosted by Robert Gagliardi, the assistant editor of Wyoming Wildlife magazine. The podcast is a newer offering from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and this particular episode stood out for good reason.

“Our law enforcement stories, those are a fan favorite because they’re very exciting, they’re incredibly interesting, and they do a great job just highlighting just how much work goes into successfully investigating and closing a case like that,” Amanda Fry, public information officer for Wyoming Game and Fish, told Cowboy State Daily.

First Blood

In 2024, the first dead buck appeared in someone’s front yard near a city park, with a blood trail leading across the street and footprints disappearing into the grass. An arrow wound made the cause of death obvious.

“The first thing I kind of thought of was maybe it was a kid,” Carstens recalled for the podcast. A deer in a backyard, shot for fun — that was going to be the end of it.

But then, more reports came in the same day. A second buck, a couple of doors down, also arrowed.

Then a third, in a nearby park, where wardens recovered an arrow — an expandable broadhead fired from a compound bow, a typical hunting setup. Then deer four, five and six. Then number seven, found floating in a pond at the Park County Complex, requiring Carstens to wade out in chest waders to retrieve it.

All nine carcasses — two bucks, six does and a fawn — turned up within a tight radius around the county library and city park, right in the middle of town.

Every animal was shot and abandoned. None were harvested in any way.

“They were just killed and left,” Fry confirmed.

Silver Car

Being in city limits gave wardens tools they rarely get to use. Ring doorbell cameras from cooperative neighbors produced footage of activity on the nights deer were killed. Security cameras at a local business captured a silver car driving slowly up and down the street before parking, and a figure stepping out with a flashlight.

It was the first real break, but the footage was too grainy to identify a make and model, let alone a license plate.

“And of course, it’s one of those deals where there’s just silver cars everywhere you look, once you start looking for them,” Carstens said.

An early lead pointed to a group of teenagers spotted on Ring camera footage running around and riding in the back of a truck. Wardens tracked them down at a local school — only to learn they had been playing a supervised game that night, organized by Cody police. They were ruled out.

With no suspect and deer still turning up dead, Carstens and his team decided to stake out the park. They would sit in the dark and wait.

Forensic evidence was gathered from arrows to catch a serial poacher in Cody (Courtesy: Wyoming Game and Fish)

Fifth Night

By the fifth night of the stakeout, the wardens were running on fumes.

“We’re kind of tired, kind of getting sick of it, trying to figure out what are we going to do next because this isn’t working,” Carstens recalled.

Then they heard it — the unmistakable thwack of a compound bow firing in the darkness, followed by the sound of an arrow hitting flesh.

Using night vision, the wardens looked out into the park. A man was standing there holding a bow, standing over a dead deer.

Carstens crept out of the truck and got as close as he could before making contact. The man bolted.

“I actually get in a foot pursuit with this guy,” Carstens said. “He was a young, pretty fast guy, so he got away from me.”

But the suspect had to have driven there. Wardens fanned out and found the silver car parked about a block away. Peering through the window, they saw an arrow lying on the front seat that matched the one recovered from an earlier crime scene.

And the car was full of fresh groceries.

“Basically went out to get groceries, on his way home decided to pull over and shoot a deer in the park,” Carstens said.

Blood Science

The suspect — later identified as Joshua Tamirat Wielhouwer — fled the state. But wardens had his vehicle and, soon, search warrants for the house where he had been staying. Inside, archery equipment was scattered through multiple rooms. A second vehicle yielded more gear, including a bow and broadheads.

Some of that equipment had blood on it. In some cases, only minuscule traces.

Wardens had also been collecting the deer carcasses and storing them in an evidence freezer. They sent tissue samples from eight of the nine deer to the Wyoming Game & Fish forensics lab, along with every piece of blood-stained archery equipment from the house.

What came back was, in Carstens’ word, “remarkable.”

The lab matched all eight deer to specific pieces of equipment — individual broadheads, arrows and metal inserts — through DNA analysis. Trace amounts of tissue inside a tiny metal arrow insert were enough to tie a specific deer to a specific arrow.

“This is the first case that I’ve worked where we’ve actually been able to take nothing but DNA evidence and make a full case on it,” Carstens said. “Big kudos to the forensics lab. They really helped put this case together. We wouldn’t have a case without them.”

A cell phone search warrant then connected the suspect’s archery equipment to an older case — a beef cow shot with multiple arrows and left to die the year before, a case the Park County Sheriff’s Office had been unable to solve.

Serial Poacher

With a nationwide extraditable warrant issued through the Park County prosecuting office, officers in another state began looking for the suspect. He eventually turned himself in, flew back to Cody and sat in jail for 75 days before posting bail.

A trial was set for February 2025. Before it began, prosecutors and the defense reached a plea deal: guilty on nine of the 18 misdemeanor charges, $18,000 in restitution for the deer and one full year in county jail, with 73 days credited for time served.

The suspect also pleaded guilty to felony destruction of property for the cow, paying restitution to the rancher and accepting three years of supervised probation. All seized archery equipment was forfeited. 

A year behind bars is an unusual outcome for a wildlife case in Wyoming, where penalties more commonly involve fines and revocation of hunting privileges, explained Carstens.

“This guy had never purchased a hunting license in Wyoming,” Carstens said. “He wasn’t really a traditional hunter in the sense that he buys a license, goes out in the field and looks to harvest anything.”

The warden’s best guess at a motive: the suspect was into archery as target shooting and “maybe just wanted to take it to the next level and see what he could do with his bow.”

Forensic evidence was gathered from arrows to catch a serial poacher in Cody — who was also connected to a mutilated cow. (Courtesy: Wyoming Game and Fish)

Team Effort

Carstens credited his fellow wardens and the Game and Fish investigative unit — which considered the dead cow as a possible predator conflict before determining it had been killed by a bow — and the Park County prosecutor’s office.

“This was definitely the most collaborative effort that I’ve been a part of,” Carstens said.

The community played a role too. Neighbors willingly shared security camera footage, and residents who enjoy the town’s urban mule deer herd were eager to see the case resolved.

“Our hope is to cover everything Game and Fish is doing,” Fry said of the Wyoming Wildlife Podcast. “We have terrestrial habitat work, aquatic habitat work, but our law enforcement stories — those are a fan favorite.”

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.

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Wyoming

BLM and Wyoming Honor Farm to Offer Trained Wild Horses and Burros in May

Published

19 hours ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

BLM and Wyoming Honor Farm to Offer Trained Wild Horses and Burros in May

The Wyoming Department of Corrections Wyoming Honor Farm and the Bureau of Land Management have announced they will host an adoption on May 9 in Riverton.

According to a release, for more than 35 years, the Honor Farm has shared the BLM’s commitment to place animals removed from overpopulated herds into good, private homes.

The event will offer saddle-started horses, halter-started yearlings and gentled burros for adoption. Photos of many of the available animals can be seen by following BLM Wyoming on Facebook or X. The organizations are currently developing a Flickr album that will premier in the near future. The horses to be offered all originate from Wyoming public lands.

The Wyoming Honor Farm is located one mile north of Riverton. Take U.S. Highway 26 to Honor Farm Road.

On May 8, gates open at 12:30 p.m. Preview available horses and burros in-person starting at 1:30 p.m. All visitors must be offsite by 3:30 p.m.

On May 9, gates open at 8 a.m. and the competitive-bid adoption begins at 10 a.m.

Both days’ events are free and open to anyone interested in wild horses, the Honor Farm gentling process and the BLM wild horse and burro adoption program.

According to the BLM, it will provide applications and information about how to adopt on both days. The BLM reports the horses and burros are current on their vaccinations, de-worming and Coggins testing. Only covered straight deck or stock type trailers with swing gate and sturdy walls and floors are authorized for loading.

The Wyoming Department of Corrections reports that since 1988, the Honor Farm has helped the BLM place thousands of horses and burros. The WDC has a low recidivism rate, and leadership feels this is largely due to the meaningful work accomplished by the Honor Farm inmates, including the gentling of wild horses. Inmates who are released after working in this program have a greater chance of succeeding in the outside world, according to the WDC.

Refreshments will be available during the event. Ice cream sandwiches will be provided on Friday, May 8. On Saturday, May 9, breakfast and lunch will be available free of charge for attendees.

All members of the public entering the facility will be subject to security checks conducted by GSecurity, including vehicle inspections. For the safety of visitors, staff, and animals – pets, firearms, and alcohol are not allowed on site.

The BLM wishes the public to be aware that cell phones, smart watches, cameras, video equipment and tobacco products must be kept locked in your vehicle while onsite. To maintain a positive environment for visitors, a reasonable clothing standard must be adhered to. Shorts and form-fitting clothing are prohibited.

To learn more about the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, including adoption requirements, visit blm.gov/whb or contact the national information center at 866-468-7826 or wildhorse@blm.gov.

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